A heroine mechanically leading her own rigidly circumscribed life, doomed to obey the diktats of her programing. Not another production of Hedda Gabler, you cry. Not exactly. This is Heddatron - a version of Ibsen's play in which half the roles are played by robots.

According to producer Aaron Lemon-Strauss, of the iconoclastic theatre-makers Les Freres Corbusier, a robot staging of Ibsen "makes perfect sense". The show, which opened in New York on Tuesday, claims to be "one of the first theatrical productions to use functional robots as actors", and to explore "contemporary issues in robotics".

The androids have been custom-constructed by Botmatrix, graduates of New York University's interactive telecommunications course. The robots' lines will be delivered using text-to-speech software.